NFL insiders sound alarms about Chargers, Justin Herbert 'disconnect'

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh clearly hoped that hiring former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as the club's new offensive coordinator this past offseason would help quarterback Justin Herbert take a major leap during the ongoing campaign. 

The Chargers instead are 0-3, and Harbaugh recently acknowledged that Herbert needs to "be better." For an article published on Wednesday morning, NFL insiders Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano addressed all that has gone wrong for Herbert and the Chargers since Week 1. 

Are Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel bad fits for each other? 

"The jumbled offense under offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel hasn't helped," Fowler wrote about the Chargers and Herbert. "And I'm not exactly sure where they turn next. ...Herbert has excelled as a true pocket passer, whereas McDaniel thrived having Tua Tagovailoa throw with anticipation to spots. Either Herbert struggles to do both, or McDaniel isn't putting him in a position to show that he can. I still think Herbert has good football in him, but that's harder to sell by the week."

Some members of the NFL community have called Herbert "overrated" following his first three outings of the season. ESPN stats show that he began Wednesday ranked 29th out of 30 qualified passers with a woeful 27.4 adjusted QBR on the campaign. Over the season's first three weeks, he tossed four interceptions and only three touchdown passes. 

Justin Herbert looks "confused and overwhelmed" while playing under Mike McDaniel

"Talk about disconnect between player and scheme," Graziano added. "Everything looks 'difficult and exhausting' for Herbert, using the words of one evaluator I spoke to last week. There was so much talk in the offseason about how Herbert and his immense natural talent would flourish under McDaniel, but it's clearly not clicking. A fresh wave of offensive line injuries that happened as the season was getting underway certainly didn't help. But the run game can't get going, the receivers haven't taken the jumps we were promised, and Herbert has looked confused and overwhelmed by whatever it is he's being asked to do out there. A lot of people have theories on what the Chargers need to do in terms of simplifying things so they can just start having success to build on. But there's also concern that the personnel doesn't fit what the offense is built to do, which might be difficult to overcome." 

Herbert signed a five-year, $262.5M contract extension in the summer of 2023, so the Chargers have millions of reasons to not want to give up on him anytime soon. Additionally, quarterback-needy teams around the league would almost certainly call the Chargers if they had any reason to believe that Herbert was available. 

McDaniel's future with the Chargers is far more uncertain, and whispers about Harbaugh making a big change will only grow louder if Los Angeles falls to 0-4 on Oct. 4. This coming Sunday, the Chargers will play at the 2-1 Seattle Seahawks. As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had Los Angeles as a seven-point road underdog for that matchup.